TRP: Goro and Mishka (First Memories)
COYOTE Day 426. After Goro is cured of his Diva infection, Goro regains some of his memories. He approaches Mishka. Jarlaxle was forthcoming enough. He thanked them for their help and offered his assistance anytime they were in Menzoberranzan, and Mishka was equally polite back. Jarlaxle was weird, and amusing, and Mishka suspected he’d stab them in the back the moment it benefited him, and Mishka liked that, because Mishka liked knowing where he stood with people. It felt cozy, like being back home, where there were no expectations of honesty or loyalty, just everyone doing what benefitted them. Mishka was flattering and polite back while Hansel glowered behind him, still covered in drider blood and guts, which made Hansel— who already looked pretty fucking intimidating— look even more pretty fucking intimidating. Mercenaries skittered around them, clearly afraid of Hansel. Mishka glowed with enjoyment. It reminded him of being on the Red Blade, casually negotiating with the captains of other ships with Hansel standing behind him still soaked in the blood of dead bodyguards and crewman. Once they were done talking, they headed back into Anwyll’s lair to regroup and clean up. Goro looked unnerved, for some reason, and kept giving Mishka strange looks and staring at things a lot. What a weirdo. He was becoming more like himself every day. It was good. Pleasing. LINA The first thing Goro had remembered, as they were walking through the cave away from the pool, wasn't an event or a person or anything. It was a fact. He was alone. A deep, fundamental kind of alone. He felt it in his bones and his guts. It was one of the most basic things he knew about himself, before he even remembered his own name or where he was from or what he looked like. He was alone, he'd always been alone, and he'd always be alone. Looking now at the people surrounding him who called themselves his family, he felt a new kind of fear. A weird paranoia, like he could tell he was having a nightmare but didn't have any proof. He didn't remember meeting any of them, and obviously it'd happened at some point, but he didn't know how anyone -- let alone a whole group -- had managed to breach the gulf of his aloneness. It was just fuckin' unnerving. As time went by, other shit started trickling in. Places and people, though none of the ones he was with now. A few names floated by him, but they seemed meaningless now, since he'd encountered none of them since getting eaten by the snake. A strange image of himself holding a skull, and knowing it was his father's skull. That one seemed inaccurate, like it must've been a dream. He thought about asking someone, but he was afraid he'd just get weird looks, not a straight answer. Stealing a purse, and having it split open a few inches from the pocket he'd picked it from. Coins clinging and clattering all over the ground, and a horrible, heavy dread settling on him, a string of curses in his head. And then -- something familiar in a different way. A face he knew now. Mishka. He saw himself playing chess with Mishka. That, too, felt eerie and dreamlike. It took Goro a long time to work up the guts to ask about it. But eventually he did. He walked up to Mishka and said, "Have you and I ever played chess?" COYOTE Mishka started to smile. "Only once. You didn't actually know how, but you were so good at bluffing I didn't catch on for half the game. It was early. Around when we first met, I think." LINA "Oh." Goro closed his eyes, and with the confirmation, the memory started to feel more real. Solid. More details filled in. "Oh. I was scared. You scared me. I thought you were gonna kill me, and I was trying to..." He opened his eyes wide, staring at Mishka. "Wait, did you know that? Were you trying to -- fuckin' -- what?" COYOTE "Ahaha," Mishka said, delighted, which was not the correct reaction. Then he immediately backed up. "Okay, hang on. Hang on." He held up a finger. "I didn't mean to laugh, I'm just delighted you're remembering things. No, I was not going to kill you, ever. Yes, you under that impression, which was fair, because I did... probably... threaten you at some point. I don't remember, just seems like a valid assumption. Ah, fuck, that sounds bad." LINA "We weren't friends at first," Goro said, half remembering and half guessing. "I was... there, trying to... impress you, or outwit you. Both." Mishka had been nothing but kind to Goro from the moment he'd found him down by the docks, after the snake. Goro really liked him. He couldn't figure out why there was this fucking disturbing image in his head now from a long time ago. COYOTE "Aye. We weren't friends at first." The Underdark was perpetually chilly, and Mishka's hands-- though gloved-- grew cold. He crossed his arms and tucked his hands into his elbows to warm them up. "Hansel and I were divorced when you first met me, and... he and I were fighting." That made it sound mutual, like they'd had some sort of gentlemanly disagreement-- rather than the reality, which was that Mishka repeatedly kicked Hansel when he was down for no good fucking reason. "Hansel and I were enemies," Mishka said. "And you were friends with Hansel, because you were on his team, and you are very loyal, and so you and I were enemies as well." LINA Goro still didn't remember Hansel, but something about that explanation seemed... fitting. Goro did have the uncanny sense, from that one little memory, that he wasn't scared of Mishka because Mishka had hurt him. There was more to it. "I... wanted to be your friend, though," Goro said, increasingly confused. He frowned. "I wanted to. I was at your house. Right? And... oh. Holy shit." He put a fist over his mouth and stared at the cave wall behind Mishka's head. COYOTE "Aye," Mishka said again. "You wanted me on your side. And you were very persuasive, because here I am." And Hansel too. Very fucking persuasive. We'll kill the fucking dragon, then. God. "What's wrong?" Mishka reached to try and gently tug the fist from Goro's mouth. LINA Goro frowned uneasily and resisted the tug. "I think I had a crush on you. We fuckin'... uh." He didn't wanna say it, in case somehow it was wrong. Maybe he'd just thought about kissing Mishka, and was remembering that. COYOTE Mishka paused, briefly and uneasily, unsure of how to handle this. A while ago, he'd started to make a list of people for Goro. Then partway through, he started wondering if he should designate which ones Goro had slept with, because there was something weird about the idea of Goro not knowing who'd seen him naked, but then he'd realized he'd have to write himself down, and that felt weird, somehow, so at some point he'd just torn the list up, then picked it out of the trash later and burned it so nobody found his notes. "Aye," Mishka said, a third time. "Well. Maybe not a crush. I don't know. But we slept together a few times, and... I liked you, and I think you fancied me, or found me... exciting, or something, and then you got more serious with Hansel, and we stopped." LINA "Oh." Goro covered his mouth with both hands then and felt himself going red. "Oh my god." COYOTE "Yeah," Mishka said. He considered setting something on fire as a distraction. He glanced up at one of the ceiling holes. Maybe that last drider would drop down on them, or something. LINA "Nnnn." Goro took his hands away from his mouth so he could shake them out, and he danced in place a little, too. There was a whole fucking flood of memories invading his head now. Cascading down, one after the other. Goro had done something fucking horrible to Mishka, once Mishka felt okay being close to him. But he hadn't done it by choice. He pointed frantically in the direction of the healing pool, where they'd fought Larkin. "That thing. That thing! That happened to me. It made me hurt you." COYOTE Mishka remembered Goro standing up beside him in the crow's nest and slamming his head into the floor, then forcing the larvae into his mouth. He remembered being possessed by Diva, and he remembered being forced to attack Samantha in the dining room, and being forced to murder his housekeeper, Beth, and attacking Hansel. He remembered screaming inside his own head, fighting to make it stop, feeling no control over his own limbs. He remembered the growing dread as he realized he was going to be this way forever with no way to quit, no way to opt out. His face went slack, and he involuntarily took a half-step back, thinking about the infection still inside Goro, before he remembered it was gone now, and everything was fine, and he stilled, his feet unmoving in the dusty stone of the Underdark where they stood. LINA They'd talked about it before. Goro remembered now. Mishka saying something about how if someone stabbed you, you didn't blame the knife. He'd kissed Goro that night, too. Forgiven him somehow. And Goro remembered something else, something he'd been blissfully free of for the past three weeks. Guilt. It welled up in him once again, black and heavy like the nightmares he had of some oily darkness consuming him. He hadn't been able to control his body, but that had been his fault. He didn't remember how; he just knew. "I'm sorry," he said. Ah, he was fucking crying, all the sudden. He took a few steps back, hugging his arm to his chest. "I'm sorry." COYOTE Mishka dithered, fighting between the anxiety in his gut telling him to back off-- give himself some space, in case he hurt somebody with his magic, because he was upset, and he needed to be mindful of that-- and the desire to hug Goro. "Ah, no," Mishka said. "Goro, no." He stepped forward (another stuttering half-step, because he wanted to move forward but he stopped himself-- he always acted before he thought). He reached out his hand to try and rest it on Goro's hip, lingering there to see if Goro would let him touch him, if Goro was up for it. LINA "Nnn." Goro didn't pull away, but he shook his head violently. He leaned forward and back, wanting more of the touch, but thinking he oughta stay away. COYOTE Mishka waited a moment more, waiting to see if Goro would settle at all, but he didn't, so Mishka decided to take a chance and slide his arm farther back, around Goro's waist, to pull Goro tightly and securely against him. Murmuring, "Sweetheart, breathe. It's alright." LINA Goro leaned into Mishka, hunching over to press his face against Mishka's shoulder. "It ain't. Fuckin' ain't. It's fucked up." COYOTE Mishka hadn't considered this part of things. Goro had been through... well, a fucking lot. Not just recently, but over his entire lifetime. There was a reason that Goro slept fully clothed, and a reason he walked around with a hidden knife strapped under his wrist, and a reason he wore a ring to keep people from intruding into his thoughts. There were reasons he was paranoid. Bad shit had happened to him. And now he’d have to deal with all those bad memories at once. He was probably pretty fucking freaked out. And it sounded like he was getting more memories back the longer they spoke. Maybe the Diva-related memories were closer to the surface right now. But he wasn’t running away; he was leaning into Mishka, slightly, pressing his face into Mishka's shoulder, like Mishka was a source of safety rather than a source of danger. His skin was faintly cold from the chilly cave air. Mishka tugged him down towards a small ledge to see if he would sit. LINA Goro sniffed, letting himself be tugged. He sat down heavily and put his head in his hands. COYOTE "Is it all coming back at once?" LINA Goro shook his head, then shrugged. "I don't know. I don't... no, I just keep... remembering bits and pieces. And..." He had this oddly specific image in his head of tugging on a piece of rope that was buried underground. And as he tugged, he realized it was a lot longer than he thought, and it was churning up a bunch of earth with it. That sounded nuts. "It's happening fast," he said, voice strained. "But not all at once." COYOTE Mishka glanced up to scan the area, briefly noting that of couple of Jarlaxle's mercenaries were around, but seemed to be ignoring them, focusing on the task of clearing out the drider's lair. Distantly, there was a shriek. Likely some unfortunate monster the mercenaries found and were finishing off. Mishka eyed then, briefly considered taking Goro somewhere else, somewhere quiet with no stimulation where people wouldn't stare at him. Mishka slid further back on the small ledge, tucking himself into a smaller space against the wall and pulling Goro with him, tugging Goro against his chest so Goro lay tight against him. LINA Goro groaned and pressed his fists against his eyes. Too much shit was happening in his brain, and there wasn't nothing he could do about it. It was even worse than the first few hours after the snake. Everything had been new then, but it'd been a steady flow of new. Now he was just being fuckin' assaulted with shit. "Ah, do I... do I have an apartment in Skyport, or something? A rented room?" COYOTE "Briefly," Mishka said. "Unless you still have it. I wouldn't put it past you. You're allowed to have your secrets. Why?" At least that was a neutral memory, not something terrible. LINA "Just--" Goro shook his head. "Don't understand half of what I'm seeing. Shit doesn't make sense. Ah, god, I keep seeing myself digging through trash, trying to find something to eat. I guess -- I mean, someone told me I grew up on the street. So I guess." COYOTE "Aye, well, you don't have to do that anymore, because you're with us." And because Goro was a powerful cleric who could take care of himself, he supposed, and who'd be in high demand for any job anywhere, and who could flay monsters with a touch of his hand, and who could create food and water with a snap of his fingers. One of Jarlaxle's mercenaries kept eyeing them. A drow male with short, choppy hair and small eyes. He wandered over to check on them. "Something wrong with your friend?" he asked, sounding vaguely suspicious. LINA "Fuck off," Goro snapped, then hid his face against Mishka. COYOTE The drow soldier only began to look more suspicious. Mishka decided to give him the benefit out of the doubt. Maybe the man was concerned, or something. So he reached out and touched the soldier's mind. The soldier was thinking, That half-elf looks pale. Sick. Do surface elves normally get that color? All yellow? Disgusting. Maybe he got caught in a bad patch of mushrooms. We ought to look out for that. Maybe he's sick with something and we better make sure nobody else catches it. That one's been trailing behind the rest of his group, and they've all been watching him and coddling him. Must be something wrong with him. Mishka's eyes narrowed. "He's not fucking sick or injured, he's just having a panic attack, alright? Fuck off," Mishka said. "What's wrong with him? You all look after him like he's some kind've--" He used a word here Mishka wasn't familiar with. It sounded like rothe. "If he's sick in the head, we don't want him here." Mishka considered his options. He wasn't really interested in having this conversation. He could cut the man's throat. That was aggressive and unnecessary, though, and Mishka didn't like violence. He could go get Hansel, and Hansel could stab the man with his trident. That would feel rewarding. Hansel was so good at stabbing things. He could simply dominate the man and make him walk away. Mishka gave the man a long, steady look to make sure the man knew what he was thinking. He made eye contact without saying anything until the man looked away. He wrapped his arm a little tighter around Goro, encouraging Goro to hide against his shoulder, where it was safe and there were no mercenary assholes threatening him. This was too complicated. He just wanted the man to fuck off and leave them alone. So Mishka probed a little deeper into the man's mind, looking for his name. It was D'uon. D'uon J'zar, of no important house. Then he twiddled his fingers underneath his cloak, casting another spell with his fingers against Goro's side. He made the sound of someone calling from deeper inside the caves. “D’uon! D’uon, come over here, we found something! Some freaky fucking tomb! It’s got jewels and shit on it!” The man’s face lit up, and then he hurried off. LINA Goro peeked out, scowling at the guy as he retreated. "I'm not having a panic attack," he muttered to Mishka. "Just -- just -- too much." COYOTE "Aye, well, you've been through some fucking traumatic things and you're remembering them all at once, so. I get that." He shifted slightly so they were in a more comfortable position. LINA Hearing Mishka put it like that was fucking worrying. Goro didn't feel like any of the shit going through his head right now was particularly traumatic -- going hungry, he guessed. And having his body out of his control, that was pretty fucking bad. But it was just little glimpses of it. He didn't know how much worse it was gonna get. "When am I gonna remember good shit?" he muttered. "Is there even good shit?" COYOTE "There is. There's some really good shit." Mishka kept his voice quiet. "There's... quiet mornings in bed. There's you stealing Theo away from her awful mother. There's the day we rescued Bakir from his pirate ship. There's the day you were married, and your honeymoon... it's all worth it. At least, I think so. It has been. For me." He was quiet, after that. "I think you'll like those parts," he said. "Those parts are most of the time. But I think... alright, hear me out. I have a theory." LINA "Eh?" COYOTE "I think that sometimes our minds hold the worst memories the closest. So I think you're probably going to remember the worst things first." Like you eating garbage as a child and making a deal with Diva. "Because your brain wants you to stay alive. It wants you to remember-- this person terrified you, and this person tortured you, and this person betrayed you, and this food made you sick, so don't eat it, and stay away from those people." LINA Goro whined wordlessly. COYOTE Mishka had a lot of shit he wanted to say, like, I'm so glad you're here, and I'm so glad you're alive, and We fucking got that infection out of you, because you're ours, you're part of our gang now, and you're good, you're safe, you've got nothing to worry about, no hunger, no abominations, no Big Barons, we've got you, we'll protect you from all that shit. "So I want you to remember that," Mishka said, a lump in his throat. He pushed Goro back slightly so Mishka could look at him. "Y'know, even if you remember something fucking awful, I want you to know that-- there's good shit after it, shit you just haven't remembered yet. The part where we've got you and you're safe now, and your brain can shut up and stop telling you bad things." He was rambling, now. This was why he preferred letters when he had important things to say. It was easier to write things. LINA "'Kay," Goro said uneasily. He couldn't very well argue with that. He did have this whole group of people who stayed with him and kept looking out for him, whatever else happened. He stuck his fingers in his mouth and chewed the tips. "I remember... a boat. A ship," he said quietly. "Drinking... wine? With you. And you told me you had a cursed cuff on your arm." COYOTE "Aye. Still do." Sometimes he forgot he had it. He pulled back his sleeve to reveal the pale metal of the cuff. LINA "Oh," Goro said, disappointed. "I think I told you to cut your arm off. But you said you'd tried that." COYOTE "Mhm. I did indeed. The arm is indestructible, though. Can't be cut. Reaches all the way up to my shoulder and covers a small portion of my chest. One day, though... y'know there's this spell that can bring people back from the dead? There's a version so powerful it can restore lost body parts. So-- one day-- we're going to locate that spell, and you'll be strong enough to cast it, and I'm going to ask you to kill me so you can carve that portion of my body off, and then we're going to cast the arm aside, and then... you'll bring me back, and the spell will restore my lost arm. And that will be the end of it," Mishka said. "That's my plan. The last one I've got." It sounded pretty fucked up when he described it out loud. But the idea of getting the cuff off was exhilarating, even though the idea of being dead and counting on someone to revive him was nerve-wracking. LINA Goro pulled back a little to give Mishka a weird look, trying to figure out if he was serious. Sure as hell seemed like it. Goddamn. Goro rested against him again. "Who's the pink tiefling?" he asked. "She was in your house. I think." COYOTE "My apprentice. Nixbixitus. Nixie. Sugar, some called her. I was friends with her mother, before she... died. She used to write me letters when she was little. Then one day she showed up at my doorstep in the middle of a storm looking like a drowned kitten, so I took her in and started teaching her proper magic. She went to Calimport to study there," Mishka said. "Then she started traveling around. I think she's interested in learning new spells from other cultures. We still write." LINA Goro narrowed his eyes. "Did I fucking kiss her, too? For fuck's sake, how many fucking people have I fucking kissed? The fuck? Do I just kiss fuckin' everyone?" COYOTE "I mean, basically." LINA "I guess good for me, maybe? God." COYOTE "I'm pretty sure you haven't kissed Larkin. So, I mean, there's that." LINA "Oh, thank god." COYOTE "To be fair, we're all pretty much sluts. I mean, god. You should see Raef. It's like you're competing for a higher body count. Sluts," Mishka said. "If my mother could see this debauchery." LINA Goro frowned. He kinda wanted to ask exactly who all he'd slept with, but he figured he'd remember soon enough anyway, and wouldn't have to have an awkward conversation about it to boot. "One time you tricked me by pretending to be -- her. The tiefling." Mishka had given too many names for her, and Goro didn't know what to call her. COYOTE Mishka ducked his head, embarrassed and guilty. LINA "You saw me fuckin'... naked. Or shirtless." As he said it, Goro realized Mishka had probably seen him a lot more than shirtless. More than once. Mishka'd said they'd slept together a few times. He felt himself blushing again, and he shifted uneasily. COYOTE Mishka's grinned widened. He didn't say anything, just gave Goro an appreciative look. "I see your torso all the time," Mishka said. "When you dress in Hansel's room." And then, to make it worse: "And also your dick." LINA "What the fuck," Goro said, and dragged the collar of his shirt up over his face. "Oh my god. Mishka." COYOTE "I mean, you don't have anything to be embarrassed about. It's a good dick," Mishka said. LINA "Oh my god." Goro hadn't even thought about it before. It was just... there. It did what it was supposed to do. COYOTE Mishka rubbed his mouth to get rid of his smile and also prevent himself from talking. LINA Goro peeked out of his shirt, then hid again. A minute later, he peeked out once more. "Did we, uh. Just decide we're better as friends, or what?" COYOTE Mishka coughed, caught off guard. He thought of a few possibilities for what to say, saw problems with all of them, became too nervous to speak, then said nothing at all. Except, "Uh." LINA Ah, that seemed like a bad sign. "What? What is it?" COYOTE "Oh. I just... I don't know," Mishka said. "We never really... uh. Talked about it. I don't really... know your side of things, that much, I don't think. I just sort've know my side of things, which we didn't really... y'know. Talk about. Either." LINA Goro was quiet for a while. That was... kinda fucking sad. "Wh-- what's your side of things, then? I don't -- remember mine, yet." COYOTE "When we stopped fooling around?" Mishka said, still uncomfortable. LINA Goro nodded, then grimaced. "Maybe -- maybe you shouldn't tell me. Sounds like... something that oughta wait until I remember, maybe." COYOTE "Aye. Maybe," Mishka said. "It's fine. You didn't do anything wrong." He rubbed his arm uncomfortably. "You were always good to me. We were just incompatible, in some ways." He thought he ought to explain about Aleksei, and about the abuse, and the reasons Mishka was touchy, and how Goro had always been so fucking careful with him-- so conscious of his boundaries, so unwilling to hurt him-- but it was too much. Goro didn't have his memories right now; not all of them, at least; and even though he loved Goro, in some ways it still felt like talking to a stranger. "Y'know, I made a list of people for you a while ago, but I couldn't decide what information to put on it," Mishka said. "I thought about listing all the people you kissed or slept with, but I wasn't sure, like, if I should note those? What's the fucking protocol, y'know?" LINA Goro gave a weird, strangled cry. "Is there more I don't know about?" COYOTE "Okay, okay." Mishka could help with this. Mishka's job was giving Goro information, and Goro's job was giving Mishka information. It was part of their function. Mishka could do this. He was made for this job. "There's... fuck. I think there's-- Sam? You kissed Sam, but I don't think you fucked, because I don't think Sam fucks people. You slept with Raef. Raef is lovely and polite. A gentleman. You fucked Hansel, obviously, on many surfaces, because Hansel is amazing. You slept with Morgan a couple times, I think. That might be it. Me, Sam, Raef, Hansel, Morgan." LINA "Oh," Goro said, feeling underwhelmed. "Well, yeah. I knew about all those. 'Cept you, before today." COYOTE "Y'know what would be funny as fuck? If you were leading a double life none of us knew about, or you were lying to us about something because you were secretly a traitor or some shit, and then you just forgot and we didn't tell you because we didn't know. And then your double life just died, or something. That'd make a good story." LINA "Um." COYOTE Mishka settled companinably, content with what was going on. "Aye, and see, for the past three weeks we've taken very good care of you. So maybe now when you're getting your memories back, then you'd be like, Oh no, I can't betray them, I love them too much, they were all so good to me. And you betray... whoever you were going to betray us to, I haven't figured that part out yet." LINA Goro's face hardened. COYOTE Aw. He was probably upset about the implication of him betraying them. "I've got other versions, too," Mishka said. "That don't involve terrible betrayal." LINA "I don't... I don't want to hear different versions. I just wanna hear true stuff." COYOTE "Fair." Mishka settled against the wall and closed his eyes. "I just think it's... interesting, you know. Imagining that you might have a secret in your head that the rest of us don't know, or some part of your history you never told us, so we can't give it to you-- you can only recover it on your own. Because these past three weeks, we've been telling you who we see you as. But that's not quite the same thing as... you. You're the only one who's seen inside your head. The only one who's peered through those eyes and walked in those shoes." LINA "I already think you guys were all wrong," Goro said miserably. "Just with the little bits I remember. I'm a fuckin' fuck up." COYOTE "Goro," Mishka said, hugging him tightly. "I'm never wrong. And you're not a fuckup. If you were, someone would tell you. Probably Larkin. She's very rude." LINA Goro grumbled. "You fuckin' said it yourself, none of you've seen inside my head." COYOTE "Well, then you are very good at pretending to be good," Mishka said, and kissed his hair again. LINA Goro grumbled again. "Fooled people." COYOTE "Yes, you're very clever. Dastardly." LINA "Don't wanna be," he muttered. COYOTE "Rude. What if other people like it when you're dastardly and clever?" Mishka said. LINA Goro didn't say anything. At the moment, he wasn't sure why anyone liked him at all. Felt like something he shouldn't mess with too much. Something he shouldn't poke at. He just sat there, glumly, staring at nothing. COYOTE "Do you remember anyone else?" Mishka asked after a moment of companionable silence. LINA "Ah. Not really. Few people from when I was young, I guess. No one who's around now." COYOTE "Huh," Mishka said. "Wonder why you remembered me first." It occurred to him-- after he said that out loud-- that there might be a reason. Because your brain wants you to stay alive, Mishka had said. It wants you to remember. And Mishka was... dangerous, to Goro, at one point, maybe in a way Goro never really forgot, all the way in the back of his brain, where first impressions never went away. Mishka was the only person in their little entourage who'd been an active enemy. Maybe that was why. Goro was remembering the most dangerous things first. He'd probably start remembering Morgan next. LINA "Dunno. I just... saw this image of us playing chess. Kinda thought it might be a dream at first." COYOTE "Maybe you're remembering the dangerous people first. Bet you'll remember Morgan next. We did fight her at one time. I mean, not long-term, we got her on our side pretty quick. But y'know." LINA "You're... dangerous?" COYOTE "What? I mean... no. No," Mishka said, puzzled. "Well. Dangerous to other people. Never to you." LINA "What you said don't make any goddamn sense, then." COYOTE Mishka frowned. LINA "Larkin's dangerous as fuck," Goro pointed out. "I ain't remembered her yet." COYOTE "Nah, I get you. I just mean, y'know, I don't think Larkin's ever scared you," Mishka said. "She's never been your... actual enemy, y'know." LINA "Um." Goro stared at him. COYOTE Mishka wasn't sure he understood the objection. Goro was hard to read sometimes. So he just hunkered down in the cold and took a sip of healing water from his flask. LINA "She was trying to kill us like an hour ago," Goro said. COYOTE "Aye, but that wasn't... her," Mishka said, uncomfortable and uncertain why he was uncomfortable. It was him who had been Goro's enemy and threatened him and frightened him. That had been him. Mishka Bell. He'd done that. LINA "Hansel's dangerous." COYOTE "Aye. So are all of us, I s'pose. I just mean... maybe dangerous isn't the problem so much as, y'know, people who are threats, or were threats. Brains don't forget things, y'know. Shit stays imprinted like a bootprint in concrete." LINA "You got some weird theories about shit. Guess we'll see." COYOTE "S'pose so." end Category:Text Roleplay